Named after the Scottish inventor James Watt, a “watt” is a unit of measure that quantifies the total rate of power used by an electrical circuit. When it comes to light bulbs, the Watt has been used to measure the amount of light emitted by the source. An 80W light bulb is brighter than a 36W one. But things are not so simple when it comes to grow lighting.
Brands will often try to sell you on LED grow lights based on the Watt count alone. Newbie buyers will easily fall for this trap, thinking that a 1000W behemoth will definitely be better than a 600W LED panel. But in reality, you may end up supplying your plants with less usable light than you expected.
Anyone that has more than two 1000 watt lights in their home has probably run into the problem of how to supply power and turn them on and off. A standard 120 volt circuit in your home has a 15 amp rating, that means one light. Note: I will be using the term "120 volt" and "240 volt" to describe the two different types of circuits we will be working with only because that's the term the ballast manufactures use. They are often referred to as "110 volt" or "220 volt", actually if you measured the voltage with an accurate meter a 120 volt circuit often will be less than that an can vary. A 1000 watt light draws about 9.2 amps at 120 volts (1100 watts / 120 volts = 9.17 amps).
What is the difference between "LED Watts" and "True Watts"?
LED diodes are rated based on the amount of power (wattage) they can theoretically handle, if they are perfectly cooled. Some full spectrum LED grow light companies advertise their lights based on this theoretical wattage- we call it "LED watts". However, excessive heat generated by running LEDs at this theoretical maximum causes LEDs to degrade ("burn out") and makes them shift the color of light they are giving off, so in the real world LEDs are never run at their full rated wattage. This means that "LED Watts" is a completely useless number for comparing the light output from two different lights-- for example, you can have two "500 LED Watt" lights, with one running 100 watts of actual power through the LEDs, and the other running 300 watts of actual power.
Do you really need 1000W leds for your plants?
Usually when we use traditional led grow lights: 30--35W/SF (draw power) will be needed for veg. 35--50W/SF (draw power) will be needed for flowering if you want to get good harvest, so when you choose led grow light, you can calculate how many watt led you need.
What’s more, PAR is also very important, 300--350umol/s will be needed for growth, 700--800umol/s will be needed for flowering. It can help you judge your light coverage and light efficiency.
Phlizon 2000W COB LED Grow Light
\The spectrum on this light is great for every stage of growth. It has two warm white and two cool white 50w COBs that combine with a mix of 10w red, blue, white, UV and IR diodes to give you a spectrum with two peaks in the red range and one in the blue, plus a large amount of green and yellow light.
Out of all the lights on this list, the Phlizon has a spectrum closest to natural sunlight. That said, the spectrum of the BestVA and the Kings Plus (next on this list) lights are a bit better, since they don’t contain quite as much yellow and green. Plants do need both colors, but not in large quantities.
ECO FARM 440W LED Grow Light - CREE
This is great bang for your buck. One of the lowest priced option of the bunch and great energy savings. The light is able to still give high PAR value which will allow for very valuable savings after a few months, so you should be able to get your $ back soon.
These lights deliver 12 bands including 2 IR and 2 UV through optical lens to maximize the PAR per watt. The ECO Farm grow lights are great for the veg cycle and you should see results quickly with the brightness of the light. The lights themselves are very powerful, but don’t give off the same kind of heat as some of the other more expensive brands/lights on this list.
No comments:
Post a Comment